Stay on the ground for the most part, and keep grabbing rings. Eggman can be hit as soon as his opening "attack" ends, so he's pretty easy to handle. Avoid Heavy King's orbs, those can be a problem since they cost you rings. Be on the move and look for an opening to strike.

I quite disliked my first time through the zone, but really came to appreciate how different and unique it was on subsequent runs. I still think act 1 is lacklustre though, especially preceeding act 2.

Banned

I don't understand the second act boss of Hydrocity Zone at all. Like I get how to attack it, but you move so slow and there is no chance for ring recovery on the spikes and the air bubbles shoot out so quickly when the boss is hit

Member

I don't understand the second act boss of Hydrocity Zone at all. Like I get how to attack it, but you move so slow and there is no chance for ring recovery on the spikes and the air bubbles shoot out so quickly when the boss is hit

Stay inline with the cannon things as they hit Robotnik and Sonic will grab the air easy enough after each successful hit. Other than that just focus on dodging the spikes and hitting Robotnik with a cannon at every opportunity. Once you 'get it' its one of the easiest bosses

Member

I don't understand the second act boss of Hydrocity Zone at all. Like I get how to attack it, but you move so slow and there is no chance for ring recovery on the spikes and the air bubbles shoot out so quickly when the boss is hit

You shouldn't be getting hit by spikes at all. Everything in that fight is telegraphed enough that you should have enough time to position yourself in advance. The air bubbles always shoot out at the same vertical level as where the hit occurred so you can catch them simply by moving to where they will shoot out before the strike happens.

Member

Stay inline with the cannon things as they hit Robotnik and Sonic will grab the air easy enough after each successful hit. Other than that just focus on dodging the spikes and hitting Robotnik with a cannon at every opportunity. Once you 'get it' its one of the easiest bosses

Member

So err, anyone on PC using the mod manager w/the 'stuck timer' cheat on, careful you're not anywhere near a time attack selection screen! Even if you finish an unrelated level from the developer menu, like I did with Mirage Saloon 2 to grab that stage's achievement...you'll end up coming back to a screen like this:

...crap D: And of course that's gone on the leaderboards now!...I'll turn the cheat off whenever I'm near time attack mode and pray my time only gets deleted and doesn't get me banned arrrgh

Member

Currently on a Knuckles run, and I'm having quite a lot of fun. Mirage Saloon 1 is a very well designed level, showcasing Knuckles' unique ability and some interesting challenges.

I tried playing Tails... And pretty much stopped quickly. Is there a way to "stop" flying immediately instead of waiting for him to slowly reach the ground and/or get tired? I ended up not having much fun playing him.

Overall, I'm warming up more and more to that game. There is definitely a lot of love poored in that game. It is fun to play. The team really did a great job (aside from the issues I noticed).

I'm still adamant about the 10min limit being a tad too short for some levels, but I can live with that.

Member

I'm having very mixed feelings with this game. When it works it's amazing, but those moments usually don't last long and the game soon reminds you that this is ultimately a (very good) fan game. My main complaints are pixel-perfect collision detection with crushing obstacles, the time limit which frontally oposes the exploration component of the game and having to restart the levels from the first act when you lose all lives. This last one is making me drop the game in frustration often and making it harder to pick up every time. It´s not funny spending 20 minutes in a level exploring everything, then dying stupidly due to a bottomless pit, crush obstacle impossible to see on time or boss attack you didn´t decypher yet and having to repeat everything again. And yeah, the game´s not hard, but I like exploring and trying things and that often leads to me losing all rings or a life. With a penalty so big for losing all lives the game seems to push you away from exploring, but if you just rush through the levels they become boring.

I´ll give it some more chances, but with all the awesome games coming out on Switch I´m running out of reasons to drop other games in favor of this one...

Deep into his 30th decade

I'm having very mixed feelings with this game. When it works it's amazing, but those moments usually don't last long and the game soon reminds you that this is ultimately a (very good) fan game. My main complaints are pixel-perfect collision detection with crushing obstacles, the time limit which frontally oposes the exploration component of the game and having to restart the levels from the first act when you lose all lives. This last one is making me drop the game in frustration often and making it harder to pick up every time. It´s not funny spending 20 minutes in a level exploring everything, then dying stupidly due to a bottomless pit, crush obstacle impossible to see on time or boss attack you didn´t decypher yet and having to repeat everything again. And yeah, the game´s not hard, but I like exploring and trying things and that often leads to me losing all rings or a life. With a penalty so big for losing all lives the game seems to push you away from exploring, but if you just rush through the levels they become boring.

I´ll give it some more chances, but with all the awesome games coming out on Switch I´m running out of reasons to drop other games in favor of this one...

Member

I'm having very mixed feelings with this game. When it works it's amazing, but those moments usually don't last long and the game soon reminds you that this is ultimately a (very good) fan game. My main complaints are pixel-perfect collision detection with crushing obstacles, the time limit which frontally oposes the exploration component of the game and having to restart the levels from the first act when you lose all lives. This last one is making me drop the game in frustration often and making it harder to pick up every time. It´s not funny spending 20 minutes in a level exploring everything, then dying stupidly due to a bottomless pit, crush obstacle impossible to see on time or boss attack you didn´t decypher yet and having to repeat everything again. And yeah, the game´s not hard, but I like exploring and trying things and that often leads to me losing all rings or a life. With a penalty so big for losing all lives the game seems to push you away from exploring, but if you just rush through the levels they become boring.

I´ll give it some more chances, but with all the awesome games coming out on Switch I´m running out of reasons to drop other games in favor of this one...

Hm. The time limit is far more generous, or rather less of a problem, than in Sonic 3 and Knuckles, for sure, at least it feels that way. Don't forget that while you are probably meant to explore (by repeatedly playing the game), you aren't meant to spend all day exploring in one go. They give you just enough time to look about and go different ways, even backtrack here and there, then finish the stage.

Don't forget the game gives you quite a few save files.

As for losing all your lives, that might be something to philosophize about with modern games.. do games needs lives? How much of a set back should failure be?.. But everything about this is a love letter to classic gaming, specifically Sonic games. In Sonic 2, when you lose all your lives, you start the entire game over. Think about that for a second. Personally, I think having set backs like that are good. It encourages a 'stopping point'. I just spend 30 - 45 minutes playing Sega Genesis.. oops, but I died just before the last level! Noooo.... Oh well, I'll wrap up the controller and play again tomorrow.

Because this game saves your progress at each Zone, even if you die in act 2, you can realistically recover your progress in another few short minutes. That, and it's pretty generous with rings and lives in general.

Well good luck. I agree with you about mixed feelings on the feel of the game, the overly sensitive crushy deaths, the recycled fan feel, but it's still great, and I'm still playing it.

Member

It's good, but this game still carries the flaws of earlier titles, namely that it's too easy to lose rings and feel like its not your fault and that it's at its best when they don't put enemies and obstacles in unfair places. Also the time limit can fuck off. No need for it.

Member

Finished the game yesterday. Was the 2nd act boss I read about being bad/unfair/hard/something else negative the

Mean Bean

boss of CPZ? I suppose you either know how to play that or you don't, and I finished it to get the platinum in the Sega collection on PS3, but still. It's one round on easy, it can't be that tough for people.

I can't help but think the end game lets Mania down slightly. It's good fun, and I will go back and play Knuckles, but I debugged the

super forms for everyone and I left disappointed. I can't help but think that Sonic 3 Complete is still the best Sonic game. I didn't really enjoy the true last boss either, and I missed not having a proper metal/silver Sonic fight.

I'm also extremely upset that my favourite thing to do as Knuckles in 3, which is go into glide just as I'm dropping on an enemy, has been nerfed massively. You used to get a nice amount of height off of that, but not any more.

Member

I heard a lot of people complaining about the oil ocean act 2 boss, might be that one.

Though I don't see it myself, the only danger in that is being crushed when the platforms come down (which I was in the first run, hilariously after I beat the boss). I avoided that the second time through and killed it.

I had more problems with the egg robo in press garden, but that was fair.

Good bosses overall, though I would have liked a sky sanctuary metallix style fight. Loved the hydrocity one where you're in the eggomatic - was too easy once you figure out the pattern, but very imaginative and robotnik was hilarious.